Ferris wheel to stand tall on Outer Banks again

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., reported (http://bit.ly/W2txnu) that the same family that ran Dowdy's Amusement Park in Nags Head plans to erect a Ferris wheel by May.

Darnell Tillett and his mother, Sandra Dowdy, own Full Throttle Speedway. They plan to resurrect the ride and add a few others for children at their go-cart track and miniature golf course. Full Throttle is about four miles from the original site of Dowdy's Amusement Park.

For close to 40 years, Dowdy's Ferris wheel lit up Nags Head summer evenings and broadcast carnival music heard for long distances. The park closed in 2005, the victim of changing zoning laws that prevented Dowdy's from rebuilding the Ferris wheel when it was blown down.

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